SAN JOSE -- Ten seconds will decide the Sharks-Kings series that begins Thursday night.

I just can't tell you when those 10 seconds will happen.

They might happen in the second period of Game 4. Or in the first period of Game 5. Or in an overtime period of Game 7.

Playoff hockey is just that way. Two good teams can battle each other on equal terms for 60 or more minutes, check for check, rush for rush . . . and then there is one missed assignment or one bad line change or one wrong skating angle or one careless pass . . . and, zap, there's the scoring chance that decides the game.

More than any first-round NHL series, this one will be about those 10 seconds. The teams are such old friends. They never blow each other out. The minutes will be full of heavy hockey and layers of bruises. We all know that. The Kings want to play that way. The Sharks love to meet the challenge. As division foes and frequent playoff opponents, they know each other as well as any two teams in the National Hockey League.

I mean, is there anything the Kings could possibly do at this point that would surprise anyone within the city limits of San Jose?

"Probably not," Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said. "This isn't football, where you have a trick play at the end of the game."

Right. So be prepared for straight-up and severe hockey by teams that are mostly evenly matched.

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"It makes for a real honest series," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "The team that gets the most out of their individuals will win the series."

And my prediction for the outcome is based on which of those individuals, over that crucial 10-second span, starts a rush or finishes one and decides a given game -- which could be a pivot point in the entire series. My prediction for the outcome hinges on those 10 seconds.

My call? The Sharks have home ice. So my feeling is that the Kings will win in six games, or the Sharks will win in seven. And because Game 6 comes before Game 7, I guess that means I am picking the Kings.

Still, no result would be a shock. In terms of personnel and ability to carry out a game plan, the Sharks and Kings have equal assets. It's a matter of which team maximizes them.

The Kings, in Jonathan Quick, do have a little better goaltending, And while McLellan is being coy about who will start in net for the Sharks, it has to be Antii Niemi. He had some ugly hiccups this season but in the end gave up just 0.3 more goals per game than Quick -- or roughly one more goal allowed every three games.

However, the Sharks have slightly more offensive firepower and averaged half a goal more per game than the Kings.

Those two elements tend to balance out each other. In fact, during the teams' two previous playoff series, the elements have almost freakishly balanced out. In 2011, the Sharks beat the Kings in six games. Each team scored exactly 20 goals and the Sharks won three games in overtime. Last spring, the Kings beat the Sharks in a classic seven-game series. Five of the seven games were decided by one goal. Why would this series be different?

"We expect a hard game every time," Niemi said this week. "We expect it to be low scoring."

There's one hockey-geek factor that could tip the scale in the Kings' favor. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter likes to play a four-line game, with all four lines banging away at the opposition. The Kings have the depth to do that, with lines centered by Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Jarret Stoll and Mike Richards. The Sharks this season frequently wound up playing a three-line game because there was so much turnover among their 10th through 12th forwards because of injuries or inconsistent play.

This is why the returns of Tomas Hertl and Raffi Torres from their knee surgeries are so crucial, if they can play at a high level and integrate themselves at playoff speed after such long layoffs. Hertl and Torres create more depth, wherever they play. This will allow McLellan to better assemble four lines to compete with Sutter's four lines.

Beware, Sharks fans, if that fourth line doesn't click and shows it is overmatched early on. McLellan would then need to start playing only three lines vs. Los Angeles' four hard-banging lines. This would create extra wear-and-tear on the Sharks' three lines as the series progresses. And that might give L.A. the edge in the final shifts of Game 6 or Game 7.

Or should I say in the final 10 seconds of those final shifts? If it comes to that, remember where you read it first.